Riding in Thunderstorms?!

latw5

Hi,

just wondered if anyone has any concrete knowledge if you can be struck by lightening when riding through a thunderstorm?

I've never thought about it before, until being 8 miles from home last night in the middle of the countryside when it started torrential rain and lightening around me!

I decided to just get my head down and get home as soon as possible, thinking that maybe the rubber tyres might offer some protection if hit? Is this safe? Anyone ever heard of a cyclist being hit?!

latw5

carlstone

I would probably have done the same as you.

However a bike offers no protection during lightning. A car our airoplane has a metal skin which channels the electricity around the body then through to the ground, so protecting the occupants. If you are riding on high ground or under trees then you will act as a good conductor. The safest thing to do if lightning is all around you is to lay your bike on the ground, then roll in a ball with your feet on the ground away from the bike and wait for the storm to pass.

Although people think it is safe under trees, it is not. A tree acts as a natural lightning conductor and if you are under it, because you are a better conductor it will jump from the tree to you before it hits the ground.

Even if you are hit I think you have a 2 in 3 chance of surviving, if a little charred :shock:

ColinJ

latw5 wrote:

Hi,

just wondered if anyone has any concrete knowledge if you can be struck by lightening when riding through a thunderstorm?

I've never thought about it before, until being 8 miles from home last night in the middle of the countryside when it started torrential rain and lightening around me!

I decided to just get my head down and get home as soon as possible, thinking that maybe the rubber tyres might offer some protection if hit? Is this safe? Anyone ever heard of a cyclist being hit?!

latw5

A motorcyclist was killed by lightning according to this report. Here's another one!

A pedestrian was hit by lightning in Coventry a couple of months ago. It melted one of his shoes and would probably have done the same thing to your tyres if a bolt hit you. Having managed to pass through miles of air, a lightning bolt isn't going to be hindered much by a thin piece of rubber!

Tyres might give you some protection from ground currents though. When a bolt hits the earth, a lot of current can flow through the soil and it will tend to take the path of least resistance. My father once saw a farmer standing among a herd of cows in a field when a bolt of lightning hit the ground. All the cows dropped dead but the farmer was okay, probably because he was wearing wellies (actually, the fact that his feet were close together was also a factor - a four legged animal is more at risk because the current can flow in one end and pass through the animal's heart on the way through to the other end).

I was out cycling once when a savage thunderstorm system blew in. I had the big climb of Oxenhope Moor to go over to get home, but that was where the storm was overhead. I could see bolts zapping the hillside right next to where I'd be riding. No way was I going up in that so I decided to take cover in Oxenhope railway station (as seen in The Railway Children). I got chatting to one of the locals there and he told me that his neighbour had been in her back yard and was hit by lightning. It blew her clean over the wall.... You don't want to mess with lightning!

You might like to read this! And especially this

latw5

thanks for the info guys - not sure it was bad enough to warrant getting off the bike and curling in a ball, but ill definately try and find a road bridge to hide under next time rather than trying to ride home on a 'natural lightning conductor'!

AndyGates

You are going to die.

Dig a hole and bury yourself and pray to Thor.

Mark Alexander

the best idea is not to go out if the weather's bad.
:roll:
obvious I know

Moose11

carlstone wrote:

Even if you are hit I think you have a 2 in 3 chance of surviving, if a little charred :shock:

I actually heard only 1 in 10 die from getting struck by lightning!! Still wouldn't be good for you of course. I know someone who has been struck twice and his son struck once all on seperate occcasions! Strange.

AndyGates

Not at all! He annoyed Thor! Silly scientists!

jibi

Last year I was riding down to Gap, in France, all around the mountains was a huge thunderstorm.
Huge lightning strikes everywhere, the roads were running like rivers

As I entered the town a huge strike hit a floodlight tower in a sports area about 20 yards away from me, I remember the noise it made.

It seems like I got a shock, through the wet roads and I crashed. Some motorists took me into the nearest place, which just happened to be a vets
When I woke up ( came round) I was in the vet's recovery room, just me and a dog with one of those lampshades over its head.

Surreal

The event on my blog
http://europejibi.googlepages.com/gap

Surreal
Not a strike I know, but close enough for me :P

george

campagone

Does carbon conduct electricity better than steel? I'm just thinking about the lightning sticker and electric shock warning on fishing rods- but maybe that's to do with the length of the rod and electricity cables :oops:

Tom Butcher

Got caught in a storm last summer up on the hills in the Peak near Elton - pretty scary - I was all for hiding in a disused barn but the rest of them decided we should just carry on . To be honest if it happened again I think I would take the barn option.